Results 1–20 of 7053 for speaker:Lord Darling of Roulanish

Alistair Darling: Will the Minister assure the House that, in the event of this unfortunate episode recurring either in any of Edinburgh's five Safeway stores or elsewhere, an announcement will be made to the public without delay? I understand that, although a press conference was held last night, the food in question was discovered at the Davidson's Mains or East Craigs stores either on Friday or Saturday of...

Alistair Darling: I am obliged to you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to make my maiden speech. Before I address the subject matter of the debate, I wish to pay tribute to my immediate predecessor, Sir Alex Fletcher, who represented the constituency for four years after the redrawing of the boundaries in 1983. Before that he had represented Edinburgh, North for some years. When I had dealings with...

Alistair Darling: I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the current industrial dispute at The Scotsman Publications Ltd, Edinburgh, and the future status of The Scotsman as a national newspaper following the dismissal of all editorial staff this morning....

Alistair Darling: Has the Leader of the House noticed early-day motion 111 which was tabled yesterday and signed by myself and 18 other hon. Members? [That this House expresses its concern at the announcement that 9,000 staff are to be made redundant by British Rail over the next three years; recognises that British Rail receives a lower level of support both per head of population and as a percentage of gross...

Alistair Darling: I congratulate the Secretary of State on still being with us, although he is not leading for the Government in the debate. I noticed that he left for a short while, no doubt to order the taxis that will be required to take him and his Conservative colleagues back home tonight. We are dealing with a straightforward issue — the amount of money that we spend on services in Scotland,...

Alistair Darling: The Minister mentioned increased expenditure on subsidies for bus services in Lothian region. Is he aware that, because of the Transport Act 1985, the council has had to spend £2 million more on subsidising private companies to operate what is effectively a worse bus service than we have ever had? If the Minister does not accept my word, will he accept that of the hon. Member for...

Alistair Darling: Does the Secretary of State not regret the remarks by the chairman of Guinness plc in the June edition of the Scottish Business Insider, that it now looks unlikely that Guinness will set up its headquarters in Edinburgh, despite promises made at the time of the takeover of Distillers? Does he not accept that the proposal to restructure Distillers into a company that might be called United...

Alistair Darling: Will the Secretary of State consider making an earlier announcement as to the guideline for each region or district? Does he not accept that the important thing for each local authority is to know exactly what its guideline will be? Will he not allow time so that the authorities can make representations to him? Will he also consider publishing a definition, in clear and unambiguous terms, of...

Alistair Darling: Until about an hour ago the House was discussing the economy of Scotland, and the Scottish Development Agency in particular. It is a matter of particular regret that a Minister has tried to stop that debate. I think that I speak for all Opposition Members when I say that we should have been happy to go through the night, if necessary, to discuss the problems facing Scotland. Conservative...

Alistair Darling: With your advice in mind, Mr. Deputy Speaker, perhaps the hon. Member for Tayside, North (Mr. Walker) will vote against the motion so that the point he raises can be developed. Had the debate continued, I would have made the point that no matter how welcome the decision by United Distillers to locate its headquarters in Scotland, the real control of United Distillers lies with Guinness and...

Alistair Darling: Will the Secretary of State accept that many of the increases that he has announced this afternoon will be funded by removing many people from the protection of benefit? Both the changes in tapers in the housing benefit. regulations and changing the method by which single payments are made will pay for the increases. Does he not accept that people will be paying for the increases and that, if...

Alistair Darling: Throughout the course of the debate, we have heard Back-Bench Conservative Members say that those of us in Scotland ought to be grateful that expenditure per head in Scotland is higher than in other parts of the United Kingdom. It really does not matter in which part of the United Kingdom the expenditure is raised. It does not matter whether money raised in Scotland is spent in England,...

Alistair Darling: Will the hon. Lady accept that the vast majority of people who apply for a single payment do so because they are poor? Under the social fund rules they will be invited to incur a debt to the social fund. Those poor people will now not only be dependent on payments such as those that they can get, but on repaying a debt that, because of the nature of their income, they cannot afford.

Alistair Darling: Will the hon. Lady accept that if Parliament sees fit to set up any benefit system, it is only right that everybody should apply for it? If some people know the ropes and can apply, all credit to them. We should be trying to create a system where everybody receives that to which they are entitled. Tory Members oppose child benefit because it has a high take-up rate and is easy to understand.

Alistair Darling: Does the Secretary of State accept that the proposed price increase will have a disproportionate effect on those on low or no income? Does that not make a mockery of the Chancellor's purported generosity when he made his Autumn Statement only a short time ago? Is it not true that consumers, who are the majority in this country, are being invited to pay high prices simply to boost the...

Alistair Darling: The Chancellor has talked about intervention. Can he say whether he will intervene in any future sales of public assets? Will he also let us know whether he will intervene to provide a floor to prop up industries in parts of the country where they have been collapsing precisely because of the lack of confidence that was exhibited when the BP sale took place a week ago?

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